Dyeing-machine.



No. 663,0l2. Patented. Dec. 4, I900. H. W. CHURCH.

.DYEING MACHINE.

"km-flicsximm filed Mar. 22, 1899.

.(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

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'No. 663,012. Patented D60. 4, 1900. H. w. CHURCH. ovum; mourns.

' (Application filad Mar. 22. 1899. t (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sham 2.

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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY W. CHURCH, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

DYElNG-MACHINE.

SPEGIFIGATiON forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,012, dated December 4, 1900 Application filed March 22,1899. Serial No. 710,035. No model-3 To all whom, it may concern:

Be itknown that I, HENRY W. CHURCH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and St are of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Dyeing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This in vention relates to dyeing-machines.

The difficulty in dyeing raw animal or vegetable fibers is that these fibers are usually matted together in bunches which when fed without being properly opened or in large masses do not permit the dye liquid to penetrate uniformly the bunch or mass, so that the interior parts of these bunches remain uncolored or partially colored and the stock is thus of various shades and the color of the yarn and cloth subsequently spun and woven therefrom is not uniform and the cloth is from this cause of inferior quality and unsalable or can be sold only at a loss.

It is difficult, if not practically impossible, to secure uniform results where the fibrous material is opened and fed to the dyeing-cylinder by the hands of unskilled laborers, who will almost certainly fail to properly open the bunches and will feed the stock in masses of varying size;

Where the stock to be dyed is first subjected to a mordant it must again be fed to a d ye-vat or dye-cylinder, and this is ordinarily done by hand.

This invention comprises in a single organization means for opening the stock, means for sprinkling the stock after being opened and while said stock is being fed to the submerging devices, and means for discharging said stock from the submerging devices in a finished condition or into other 'submerging devices, all of said means and devices beingautomatic in operation, thus enabling the stock to be conveyed without handling from a hopper through the machine and to be discharged therefrom when thedyeing operation is completed and enabling the stock to be subjected to the action of a mordant, if necessary, before being placed in the dyeing liquor.

The invention herein described saves labor and improves the character of the product.

Not only may fibers be dyed by the apparatus herein described,but also yarns and cloths.

Certain parts of the apparatus may be used for rinsing, drying, steaming, and other analogous operations; but the chief utility of this invention is in dyeing unmanufactured animal and vegetable fibers.

In the accompanying drawings on two sheets, Figure 1 is a plan of a machine embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a transverse section of either cylinder at right angles to its axis on the corresponding line 3 3 in- Fig. 5; Fig. 4, a front end elevation of the front tank and front cylinder; Fig. 5, a central vertical longitudinal section of the machine on the line 5 5 in Fig. 1.

The fibers are first opened by any suitable mechanism, and for this purpose I prefer to use the feeding mechanism shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 5, the same being commonly used in connection with openers, pickers, carding-engines, and similar machinery for the same purpose of opening the bunches of fibers and feeding them more or less uniformly to a following machine.

apron by the doffer-roll E and falling onto another feed-apron F, which usually carries the stock into an opener, picker, cardingengine, or other machine. All of the abovenamed feeding devices are of the usual construction and operation and are usually.

driven by gearing and belts and pulleys substantially similar to those indicated in the drawings by lines and direction-arrows.

For the benefit of those less acquainted IOO anism is in operation or to the loose pulley chain c connects a sprocket-wheel e on the.

doffer -roll shaft with another sprocket-wheel d, concentrically secured to a pinion d, which engages a gear 61 on the shaft of the knockoff-roll D and drives the latter at a less speed than that of said doffer-roll. The liftingapron O is drivenby an open belt (not shown) connecting a cone-pulley 77, on the shaft H with another cone-pulley c, to which is concentrically attached a pinion c, which engages a gear 0 fast on the shaft of the upper lifting-apron roll 0 The lower lifting-apron roll 0 has a gear 0 which through an intermediate gear c drives a gear b 0n the rear roll I) of the apron B. The rear roll of the feed-apron F has a gear f fast thereon and driven by an intermediate gear 'i, which in turn is driven by a pinion 2", concentrically secured to the pulley 4?, said pulley 2' being driven by a,belt i from a pulley h fast on the shaft H, the arrangement described causing the upper member of the feed-apron F to, move backward.

The opened stock in my machine is delivered by the apron F into a trough J or spout, the bottom j of which preferably rises toward the rear, as shown, to form a basin j at the front for the retention of the stock and the liquid with which the same is moistened.

The stock lying in the basin j is sprinkled with. the liquid drawn from the adjacent tank K by a pump, as a rotary pump L, and suction and discharge pipes Z Z, the upper end of the discharge-pipe Z terminating in a sprinkler-head Z which extends across the front end of the basin j, so that the stock while loose and open is thoroughly and uniformly moistened with the mordant, dye, or other liquor contained-in said tank K.

The pump L maybe of any usual suitable construction, but is represented as a rotary pump driven from a pulley 9 fast on the shaft G,and connected by a belt g to a pulley Z fast on the pump-shaft Z in an obvious manner.

The rake M is represented as a suitable frame provided with side bars m and crossbars m, to which are secured finger-bars m the front ends of said side bars m respectively at opposite sides of the frame A being jointed to a wrist-pin 2' which projects from the intermediate gear 7 and to a crank 11 on the shaft 1, on which said gear t' is fast, to give said rake a reciprocating endwise movement. The rake M is alternately raised and lowered at its front end by the action of said wrist-pin itand crank t at its rear end by bracketsj secured to the opposite sides of the trough J to form a track for antifriction- Wheels m, which are journaled on the front ends of said side bars m, said track being convex on its upper surface, so that the rake in moving forward or toward the hopper a is first raised to disengage the tines m from the stock, and is in its highest position at the middle of such forward movement, Figs. 2 and 5, after which the rake, still movingforward, descends again to engage the stock, and the front end of said rake continues to descend during the first half of its forward movement, while the rear endof said rake rises, so that when said front end is in its lowest position said rear end is again in its highest position. The front end of the rake rises and its rear end falls in the last half of said backward movement in such a manner as to keep the lower ends. of the tines m near the sloping bottom of the trough J, but out of contact with said bottom. The rake pushes backward the stock, which falls down the chute or downwardly-inclined continuationj of the trough J, into a central opening 70 in the front end of the cylinder K. The part K is a hollow cylinder having perforated heads or ends 70 and sides and an unperforated tubular center it shorter than the body of the cylinder, to which center the heads are secured by spiders the arms of which curve outwardly to meet the edges ofv the central openings k and to connect them to said center it The'shape of the spiders allows the chute j to project through the adjacent head is. A shaft Z0 passes centrally through the tubular center and is secured thereto by collars or hubs k rigidly secured to said shaft and center 70 said shaft being journaled at k 70 as on the front and rear walls k 10 of the tank K, the front journalbox 10 being higher than the rear box 70 so that when the cylinder K is rotated its contents will be moved by gravity toward the lower rear end of said cylinder. The cylinder K is divided by perforated radial partitions 10 Fig. 3, which extend from head to head and from the center to the sides of said cylinder, into compartments 10 which receive the stock from the chute 7' The tank K contains sufficient liquid (the surface of which is indicated by the horizontal dotted line 7c in Figs. 2 and 5) partially to submerge the lower side of the cylinder K and thoroughly to soak the stock in the lower compartments 70 of the same.

The usual provisions for the heating of the liquor in the tank by steam and of drawing off the spent liquor are too well known to need illustration or description; but a steam-pipe is indicated at k and a discharge-pipe at 70 (both in Fig. 4:) for these uses, respectively.

The cylinder K, Figs. 1, 2, and 4, is provided with an annular gear in", which is engaged by a pinion 02, fast on the shaft N, a worm-wheel n being fast on the other end of said shaft and being driven by a worm 11 the shaft of which carries a fast cone-pulley n connected by a belt 9 to a pulley g on the shaft G. By this means the cylinder K is rotated at a speed which is preferably slow at ing the belt g from one step of the pulley n to another step of the same.

The stock in the compartments of the cylinder K is by the means above described, after being thoroughly soaked in the liquid contained in the tank K, slowly raised above the surface of said liquid and allowed to drain,

I claim as my invention- 1. In a dyeing apparatus, a hollow, perforated, rotary cylinder, provided with longitudinal compartments and having an inclined axis and having in its lower end a central opening of less diameter than the internal diameter of said cylinder, in combination with a tank and an inclined discharge-chute extending into said opening and beyond said tank the surplus liquid escaping t ough the perforations of the cylinder and its partitions and through the spiders and falling from the upper into the lower com partments of the cylinder. The continuous slow revolution of the inclined cylinder Kca'uses the stock to keep falling toward the lower end of the cylinder until finally said stock falls on an incline or chute which extends within the rear central opening 7c of said cylinder K and projects therefrom sufficiently to carrysaid stock clear of said cylinder and clear of the tank K onto the floor or into any suitable receptacle arranged for that purpose. By means of said incline or chute 70 the stock may, if desired, be delivered into a second cylinder K precisely like the cylinderK,corresponding parts of said cylinders being designated by the same letters of reference, said cylinder K turning in a tank K substantially like the tank K, but arranged at a lower level, in which case the shaft 70 may be common to both cylinders, and the shaft N will be provided with another pinion It. The stock will be delivered from the second cylinder as from the first by another chute k The stock may thus be carried through several cylinders.

In dyeing fibers without the use of a mordant a single cylinder would be sufficient; but where a mordant is used the tank K nearest the trough J would contain the mordant and the next tank K would contain the adjective color or dyeing liquor proper.

Where in dyeing steam is admitted through perforated steam-pipes arranged below the surface of the liquor in the usual manner, the condensed steam will furnish sufficient water to take the place of what is absorbed by the stock; but I provide a tank or reservoir K connected by a pipe 10 to a cylindercontaining tank K or K to supply the loss of mordant or dyeing material, the pipe 1c being provided with a valve or cock 10 to enable the drip of liquid from the tank K to be controlled.

By the above arrangement of tanks and cylinders the stock may be subjected to a series of washings or rinsings.

2. In a dyeing apparatus, two or more hollow, perforated, rotary cylinders, provided with longitudinal compartments, and having their axes inclined downward and having in their adjacent ends central openings of less diameter than the internal diameters of said cylinders, respectively, in combination with and provided in its ends with central openings of less diameter than the internal diameter of said cylinder, an inclined chute, arranged toconduct stock from said feeding devices into the opening in the upper end of said cylinder, and another inclined chute, extending into the opening in the lower end of said cylinderand beyond said tank, to discharge stock from said cylinder.

4. The combination of suitable opening and feeding devices, a tank, a hollow, perforated, rotary cylinder, provided with longitudinal compartments and having an inclined axis and provided in its ends with central openings of less diameter than the internal diameter of said cylinder, an inclined chute, arranged to conduct stock from said feeding devices into the opening in the upper end of said cylinder, another inclined chute, extending into the openingin the lower end of said cylinder and beyond said tank, to discharge stock from said cylinder, and moistening devices, arranged between said first-named chute and said opening and feeding devices, and connected with said tank.

In testimony whereof I have aifixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY W. CHURCH.

Witnesses:

ALBERT M. MOORE, GRAoE E. HIBBERT. 

